Dallas County, Texas, district attorney (1951–1987) who led the prosecution that won the 1964 conviction of Jack Ruby. He was also the Wade in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. In 1970 a pregnant woman challenged the Texas law that prohibited abortion except to save a woman's life. Wade's office defended the state law at trial, where the law was declared unconstitutional. The Supreme Court affirmed a woman's right to abortion.